Cantine Isola

Cantine Isola, a wine bar in Milan, represents all that is attractive about Italy -- friendship, loyalty, family, and excellent wine.  A friend recommended Isola and several weeks ago we decided to visit it.  The adventure began with a short ride on the Metro and a 10-12 block walk.  When we entered we discovered a store that had changed very little over the last 50 years.  High tech has passed it by.  The shelves are stacked from floor to ceiling with wine from all the regions of Italy, as well as limited selections from Germany and France.  Customers are greeted as soon as they enter and are identified by name.  Behind the counter is usually a member of the family, Gianni Sarais, the father; Tina Sarais, the mother, and Luca Sarais, the grown son.  We quickly developed a relationship with Luca who speaks English.

Wine bar

Luca

Wine is served by the glass.  Snacks are plentiful - raw vegetables, olives taggiasche, peperonata della casa, various nuts, and bruscetta.  The goal of the Sarais family is for customers to meet each other, share stories, and learn about wine.  They reinforce customer attitudes about wines they know and encourage them to develop a taste for new varieties.  Ken and I decided that on each visit (we have now been there twice) we would sample four wines. Of the eight wines we drank, plus little tastes of dessert wines, we bought two different Barbarescos and one Barolo from Piemonte, an Amarone from Veneto, an obscure wine from the Marche region -- all very accessible reds -- and a half bottle of Recioto della Valpolicella (a dessert wine from Veneto)

Gianni

During our first visit we discovered that a film had been made about Cantine Isola.  We were given a copy and have spent close to two hours watching an entertaining and well-documented history of Isola and the neighborhood.  A trailer is available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7EI0f5sgVI

From the DVD we learned that a wine establishment existed in that location as early as the 1890s.  Gianni Sarais purchased the store in 1991.  He had come as a young man to Milan from Sardinia.  He and his wife, a Sicilian, operated a restaurant for many years.  Gianni discovered that the wine shop was for sale and purchased it.  Luca, his son, while studying economics, learned the trade and eventually became a full-time participant in running the store.

Back door leads to 4 small cellars

The shelves

What attracts customers to Isola? There is a loyal clientele - some have been customers for thirty years or more.  The customers say that billionaires, paupers, artists and T.V. directors drop in.  They describe Isola as part Alpine inn, part German tavern.  Once a week, Luca reads a short poem written by a well-known poet, a local artist or a co-worker.  He says the poem is always short because in Milan the finer things are concentrated.

Our last visit proved the point that if you come in alone you go out with friends.  We arrived and greeted Luca.  Immediately two customers introduced themselves.  They were alums from the same military academy in Venice.  One had traveled extensively in the U.S., in particular he had been to Boston many times on business.  We discussed wine, travel, Milan, Italy, and politics.  As they were about to leave, one of the men bought us a bottle of wine, as he said, a sign of hospitality.  The experience confirms Luca's claim that Isola gives the customer a chance to feel good.

Le Befana

Today, January 6, is a holiday in Milan.  I was not sure why it was a festival day.  I saw witches on broom sticks in store windows.  I knew it wasn't Halloween.  Here is the answer as noted on the web site Goitaly, written by Martha Bakerjian:

The Feast of the Epiphany, celebrated January 6 with a national holiday in Italy, and the tradition of La Befana are a big part of Italian Christmas celebrations. Epiphany commemorates the 12th day of Christmas when the three Wise Men arrived at the manger bearing gifts for Baby Jesus. The traditional Christmas holiday season in Italy lasts through Epiphany.

La Befana

 

Italy's traditional celebration includes the tale of a witch known as La Befana who arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5 and fills the stockings with toys and sweets for the good children and lumps of coal for the bad ones.
According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger they stopped at the shack of an old woman to ask directions. They invited her to come along but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd asked her to join him but again she refused. Later that night, she saw a great light in the sky and decided to join the Wise Men and the shepherd bearing gifts that had belonged to her child who had died. She got lost and never found the manger.
Now La Befana flies around on her broomstick each year on the 11th night, bringing gifts to children in hopes that she might find the Baby Jesus. Children hang their stockings on the evening of January 5 awaiting the visit of La Befana.
See My Befana for La Befana song and more about the legend.
The origins of La Befana may actually go back farther, to the Roman's pagan festival of Saturnalia, a one or two week festival starting just before the winter solstice. At the end of Saturnalia, Romans would go to the Temple of Juno on the Capitoline Hill to have their augers read by an old crone. Many pagan traditions were incorporated into Christmas celebrations when Christianity became main stream. La Befana was a good substitute for the old woman who read the augers. The saying augur originated with this practice, too, as it was common to wish someone good augers.

Milan holds an Epiphany Parade of the Three Kings from the Duomo to the church of Sant'Eustorgio.

This afternoon the parade from the Duomo passed our apartment.